Plant transcription factors and enhanced gene expression
OwnerNing Huang, Daichang Yang +2inventors
InventorsNing Huang, Daichang Yang, Yong-Sic Hwang, Robert J. Schmidt
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Abstract
The invention relates to transgenic plants that demonstrate enhanced expression of a plant transcription factor under the control of a seed specific promoter such that expression of the transcription factor activates transcription of a native or non-native coding sequence in the plant. The invention further relates to a method of generating such transgenic plants and methods for enhancing the level of expression of a selected heterologous protein in seeds of such transgenic plants.
Claims22
A transgenic rice, corn, barley or wheat plant, comprising
- a heterologous nucleic acid coding sequence for a plant transcription factor operably linked to a seed specific promoter, wherein expression of the transcription factor in the seeds of said plant is effective to activate transcription of a gene operably linked to a promoter with which said transcription factor interacts.
A transgenic rice, corn, barley or wheat plant, comprising
- a heterologous nucleic acid coding sequence for a first transcription factor under the control of a first seed specific promoter, and a heterologous nucleic acid coding sequence for a second transcription factor under the control of a second seed-specific promoter, wherein expression of both transcription factors results in enhanced expression of a nucleic acid coding sequence expressed under the control of a promoter with which said first and second transcription factors interact, wherein the level of expression of said nucleic acid coding sequence is greater than the level of expression detected in a transgenic plant in which one, but not both of said first or second transcription factors is expressed.
A method of enhancing the level of expression of a heterologous protein coding sequence in rice, corn, barley or wheat seeds by transforming a rice, corn, barley or wheat plant with a heterologous nucleic acid construct effective to express a first and second transcription factor under the control of separate seed-specific promoters, wherein the promoter controlling expression of the heterologous protein coding sequence is responsive to the combined effect of said first and second transcription factors.
A method of enhancing the level of expression of a heterologous protein coding sequence in rice, corn, barley or wheat seeds by transforming a rice, corn, barley or wheat plant with a first heterologous nucleic acid construct effective to express a first transcription factor under the control of a first seed-specific promoter and a second heterologous nucleic acid construct effective to express a second transcription factor under the control of a second seed-specific promoter, wherein the promoter controlling expression of the heterologous protein coding sequence is responsive to the combined effect of the first transcription factor and the second transcription factor.
A method of making a seed-specific promoter responsive to a transcription factor to which it does not respond in its native state, comprising
- (i) determining the native response sequence for the transcription factor;
- (ii) providing a heterologous nucleic acid construct comprising a seed specific promoter which does not respond to said transcription factor;
- and
- (iii) inserting the response sequence into said seed specific promoter, resulting in a modified seed specific promoter effective to bind said transcription factor, wherein the binding of the transcription factor to said response sequence results in an increase in the activity of said seed specific promoter.
A modified seed-specific promoter, comprising the binding sequence for a transcription factor to which said seed specific promoter does not respond in its native state, wherein the binding of the transcription factor to the modified promoter results in an increase in the activity of said promoter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.